Want to learn the marimba? It’s easy — and it’s hard.

It’s easy because when starting out as an ensemble percussionist, learning a part can be dead simple. Can you bang a mallet and keep a quarter-note beat? You’re ready to start. A marimba, with its big wooden keys, looks like a much bigger version of the xylophones played in preschool music activities.

But it’s also hard to learn marimba, logistics-wise. Unlike pianos, drums or guitars, African marimbas aren’t readily available at local music stores. And while you might find a percussion teacher at the university, how do you practice without an instrument?

That’s where the Serevende Marimba Ensemble comes in. John Serevende, a local percussionist who plays with the jazz group Saboroso, had Zimbabwean-style marimbas made for him and shipped from Oregon state. Serevende then assembled a group of seven marimbas and other accompanying percussion, named it Serevende (an African term meaning “something that goes on and on”), and began recruiting musicians of all levels of experience and backgrounds.

In an interview with 77 Square, Serevende talked about marimba music, blending musical styles and Serevende’s debut performance at Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Saturday, Jan. 24.

How did you become interested in marimbas and African music?

I came across an African marimba group one time on the Internet, probably six, seven years ago. I found a CD on Amazon and I bought it, and I was just amazed at how beautiful it was.

I tracked the presence (of Zimbabwe marimbas) in the United States to the Pacific Northwest. You’ll find forms of marimbas, xylophones, all over Africa, of course.

But what evolved in Zimbabwe is a very, very different kind. They use seven marimbas — a bass, which is actually over four feet tall; the keys are as long as two feet in length and you actually have to stand on a riser to play it. The next step up is a baritone marimba, which is also a very large marimba, and two tenors, and three sopranos.

No alto marimbas?

It depends on where you’re from. Some call one of the sopranos an alto.

What I’ve done is bring together the African marimbas from Zimbabwe and I’m basically developing a set of music with marimbas and Cuban percussion, a set with marimbas and Brazilian percussion and a set with West African percussion.

Does the instrumentation change?

The marimbas remain constant; they provide the melodic and harmonic component. What changes is the drums and percussion underneath the marimbas. In Cuban stuff you’ll have congas and timbales and chekeres and things like that. In Brazil, the samba bateria instruments are what I use … the kind of thing you see in carnaval parades. … I’m developing a set that features that.

When you say “developing a set,” are you composing music or looking for existing music that fits your group?

What I’m doing is transcribing, or finding pieces that were written for the instruments. I’m taking tunes and transcribing for the marimbas, including popular tunes. We do a jazz tune, a very famous Sonny Rollins song called “St. Thomas,” for example. We have some surprises for the Olbrich Gardens show.

Can you give me a hint?

It’s a popular tune that we grew up listening to on Saturday mornings. It’s a “Children of the Rainforest” gig, so I wanted to throw something in for the kids that will be particularly effective. … I think they’ll go crazy on the drums alone, but when they hear this little tune I think everybody will jump up and dance.

How long has this group of seven marimbas been together?

It’s very new. I assembled the lineup only in the last few months. It’s a debut.

How many people are in Serevende?

It depends on what piece we’re playing. … Between 12 and 20 people would be involved. That’s constantly going to change; it’s very transitional. I try to have a primary and a backup on each piece.

The individual parts are quite simple, typically. It’s like a small orchestra spread across seven different marimbas. Take any part by itself and it could sound childlike simple.

So the level of player that I need isn’t always someone that is advanced. I’ve got a mixed bag. It’s a very intriguing concept for a musician when they hear about this, but then they come in and find out that the part is playing quarter notes across nine keys for an eight-minute piece. Bored!

(We have) from beginners to classically trained musicians to advanced jazz musicians, ranging in age from their early 20s to 50s.

What is your vision for the group going forward?

I’m very optimistic. There’s nothing else like this that I’m aware of anywhere. Even the African marimba groups, there’s probably less than 100 of those scattered around the United States, and playing at a professional level, maybe 25, guessing.

But nobody is mixing drums and percussion from Brazil and Cuba and West Africa that I’m aware of. So I think the appeal for the group is hard to quantify. Anywhere from children to retired people to, you know, the hipsters in the clubs hopefully.

We’re booked for the summer series at Olbrich and we’ll be aggressively looking for gigs over the next few months.

So because there’s no other group like this, there’s no script for where you go next.

It’s so new, and my access to traditional music is going to cause a lot of improvisation. I want to be humble and respectful to the history of Zimbabwe music. I don’t want to do anything ugly.

You’ll never catch me playing a Beatles medley on my marimbas to entertain a corporate crowd. I’ll never do anything like that. But can we take a beautiful piece of music, like “St. Thomas,” and not do anything horrible against the tradition?

IF YOU GO

Serevende Marimba Ensemble performs at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009 at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Ave. Tickets are available at the door and cost $3 for adults, $2 for children younger than 12 and free for kids younger than 2. Visit olbrich.org for more information.

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